August 7, 2025 • 33 mins
This is a Vintage episode from 2006 with a current day introduction
The Banter
The Guys add a modern day discussion about an easy and tasty bar garnish that you ought to try.
The Conversation
The Restaurant Guys catch up with third generation restaurateur Jimmy Bannos Sr. Jimmy joins The Guys to talk about his love of New Orleans cooking at his restaurant Heaven on Seven in Chicago. They discuss the great history of cocktails in New Orleans and Jimmy’s Big Easy Cocktails book.
The Inside Track
The Guys and Jimmy share a love of New Orleans and they like to eat their way through it.
“ You go to Cafe Dumont for some beignets in the morning and then where are we gonna go for mid meal? We do a mid meal before lunch. So then we go there. Then after that we're going, well, where are we going for lunch? And then where we're going for supper? Where we're going for dinner and where we're going for late night? That's the whole kind of New Orleans culture. It's all about food, beverage and people,” Jimmy Bannos Sr. on The Restaurant Guys Podcast 2006
Bio
Jimmy Bannos Sr., a third-generation restaurateur, worked at his parents’ diner when he was growing up. After receiving his formal culinary education at Washburne Trade School, Bannos became infatuated with Crescent City cooking in the early 1980s and worked with famous New Orleans chefs, such as Paul Prudhomme at K-Paul’s, Frank Brigtsen and Emeril Lagasse.
Jimmy’s bustling New Orleans-style Heaven on Seven restaurants have been one of the most popular eateries in Chicago for decades (recently closed).
Jimmy’s books are The Heaven on Seven Cookbook and Big Easy Cocktails, Jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites.
He and his son, Jimmy Bannos Jr. will be opening Koulkas Greek Eatery in Illinois later this year.
Info
Jimmy Sr. and his son, Jimmy Jr., will be opening Kouklas Greek Eatery in 2025
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Francis (05:43):
Today our guest is Jimmy Anos, who with his family
owns Heaven on seven, a NewOrleans style restaurant in
Chicago.
He's also co-authored a book onNew Orleans cocktails that's out
now called Big Easy Cocktails,jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites
from New Orleans.
Jimmy, why a New Orleansrestaurant in Chicago?
Speaker 10 (06:00):
Crazy, ain't it?
Yeah.
Did you get lost?
What happened?
I'm lost.
I made the wrong turn.
You know, I, uh, well, 20, 26years ago, my, uh, well my
parents, my dad and myself inthe kitchen, my mom, my brother
in the back of the house, webought a, uh, I'm a third
generation restaurateur, so, youknow, so your
Francis (06:18):
whole family's crazy.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And actually I'm firstgeneration crazy.
And what do you, what do think,actually my
Speaker 10 (06:24):
son is be fourth generation.
He just graduated up.
Culinary school two years ago,and he is working in New York
right now, so it's easy.
Uh, where's he working?
He's actually working with, uh,a buddy of mine, Mario Vital, at
uh, uh, his restaurant calledDel Posto.
Great place.
We, we've eaten there andactually great place
Francis (06:38):
actually.
We, we went to college withMario.
Speaker 10 (06:40):
Oh yeah.
We're at Rutgers.
Yeah.
Francis (06:42):
Yeah.
That's, that's where we'rebroadcast out of.
We're broadcast out of NewBrunswick, New Jersey.
Oh, awesome.
Look at that.
The world is a small, smallplace.
Is it not?
And as
Speaker 10 (06:48):
we get older, as you know, it's getting smaller and
smaller.
Now, where's your son?
That's only,
Speaker 6 (06:53):
that's only'cause I'm getting bigger and bigger.
Jake
Speaker 10 (06:55):
thought you've seen a picture of me.
Have you?
Well then we talk about big,we're talking about Mario too.
Nobody, nobody trusts skinny.
Nobody trust skinny
Francis (07:03):
re tur.
So, um.
Where, uh, where's your sonworking?
Which, which place?
Uh, he's
Speaker 10 (07:07):
working at Del Poso.
Francis (07:08):
At Del Poso.
Wow, that's a fabulous, fabulousrestaurant.
Speaker 10 (07:10):
Yeah, a really great opportunity for him.
And he's learning a lot.
It's, uh, it's a really goodexperience.
21-year-old kid.
It's a great experience for
Francis (07:17):
him.
You know, what's, what'sinteresting is when we see, and
I'm sure you did the same thing,and I think that, you know,
'cause.
A lot of people out there whoare listening to the show don't
own restaurants or work inrestaurants.
When you see, um, someone'swhose family owned a small
restaurant mm-hmm.
On a resume, you hire thatperson almost,
Speaker 6 (07:31):
almost automatically.
Sure.
Nobody
Francis (07:33):
knows hard work like a restaurateur kid.
Speaker 10 (07:34):
Yeah.
You know, I started washingdishes at nine, you know?
Mm-hmm.
And, and I actually really likedit, and it's just, uh, working
my way up, going to culinaryschool and then, uh, college for
a little bit.
And, uh, I would never thinkabout doing anything else, you
know?
and, and I love the business andI, I never, I would never try to
talk my kids into it.
I was never one to force'em intoit because, you know, you know
how it is.
Anybody ever force their kid inany type of business, what
(07:55):
always happens is a disaster.
You know, I'm thinking about
Speaker 6 (07:58):
forcing my kids out of it.
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 10 (07:59):
Yeah, exactly.
So, you know, and I told'em, Isaid, you know, we were looking
at, you know, CIA and JohnsonWales and stuff like that.
And I told him, I said, listen,don't, uh, I don't want why want
you go in this business.
I eat, drink, and sleep it.
You see me all these years.
You know what we do?
And he said, Hey, listen, don't,don't ask me that question
again.
This is what I want to do.
This is, I've always wanted todo.
So he's, uh, he's got, you know,he's got a great resume.
(08:20):
Went to, you know, worked atEmeralds in New Orleans already.
El Forno and Providence, RhodeIsland.
Uh.
Couple great restaurants, me atFrancesca's in Chicago, a place
called Miramar.
Francis (08:28):
So let's talk about when you were his age and you're
outta culinary school and you'recoming up in your parents'
restaurant and you, you openedthe new Garland Coffee Shop in
Chicago, right?
Right.
you're a young chef, you'recooking great food, and you
decide to take your parents'Chicago restaurant, which is the
new Garland Coffee Shop andreinvent it, and you get them to
buy in.
As, uh, heaven on seven, A NewOrleans style restaurant.
(08:49):
Right.
How'd that come about?
Man,
Speaker 10 (08:50):
you know, it was, how I would travel would be
through my, through my, throughdifferent cookbooks, you know,
we were almost, almost newlymarried at the time, and, you
know, busted no money, you know,of course three families with
three families working outta onejoint, you know?
Right.
And, and, uh, you know, andthen, and how I would travel
through cookbooks.
So I got Paul Peron's cookbookand, uh, back in early 84, I
(09:11):
think, when I came out 84, 85.
And, uh, made a couple thingsfrom him.
People went crazy for it, youknow, and then I, I, so I called
him up and said, Hey, chef.
You know, I kind of told him mystory and he says, why don't you
come on down?
So I, I flew down there and Ihad about a two hour meeting.
It was an instant kind of, uh, alove fest.
You know, we really, it's likewe were long lost brothers, we
just, uh, took a liking for eachother.
(09:31):
And he says, why don't you hangout in my kitchen for the night
and.
A guy named Frank Bryson was thehead chef back then who owns a
place called Bryson's in NewOrleans.
Mm-hmm.
Sure.
Greg.
Greg and Mary Sonya wasactually, it's one of the best
restaurants down there in, uh,Greg and Mary Sonya, a place
called the Gabriela's.
And, and so did you
Francis (09:46):
work in these places or you just lodge in the kitchens?
Speaker 10 (09:47):
No, no, no.
I just hung out in the kitchenthat night and became friends
with all these guys and just,you know, I, I've been blessed
to thank God with a good palate.
when I taste something, I canusually recreate it and I just
kind of put my spin on it.
my original restaurantespecially, and I've got three
of'em, you know, three heaven onseven of them.
But my original place is, uh.
You know, just open breakfastand lunch and you know,
basically po boys ate to fe youknow, red beans and stuff like
(10:10):
that.
Mm-hmm.
You know, one pot cooking andthen we kind of, elevated a
little bit and it's what I callthe creolization of anything I
get my hands on, you know, soit's, uh, you know, we'll do
like a sesame crusted pancakechicken.
We'll do a.
great beef tips with a, um,homemade wisher sauce, fried
vil, onion crush.
Now,
Francis (10:26):
what year was this when you opened the original Heaven
on seven, uh, 1980.
How did people react, to that inChicago?
I mean, you know what?
Speaker 10 (10:32):
Because, only because, I mean, new Orleans
style, there's a, there's a hugeconnection between New Orleans
and Chicago, so when I starteddoing it, people were, I mean,
it.
Cross-cultural, uh, boundaries.
I mean, we had a guy from,Illinois state, uh, Supreme
Court Justice, sitting at a, youknow, because we have a counter
where we have like a.
13 seat counter, you know, allof a sudden the, the judge
Supreme Court judges is eating,uh, eating a bowl of gumbo.
(10:55):
Then I got a guy from thestreets of San, sanitation, and
the city's eating a bowl of redbeans, and next to him is a, is
a, a, you know, streetwise guywas kind of homeless, homeless
guy, selling newspaper.
He's sitting there and sothey're all talking, you know
what I'm saying?
Uh huh And they're all talkingabout food or all, you know,
it's like, Hey, is thissomething different?
this is something where I gotback home, I'm from New Orleans,
I'm ex uh, new orian and stufflike that.
(11:15):
So then it just kind of, justtook,
Francis (11:17):
and that's, and that's really the purpose of, of what
the best purpose of whatrestaurants are all about is
when they're locus of community.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
So Jimmy, uh, are the, do you imply that there are
a lot of, new Orleanstransplants in the Chicago area?
Uh, definitely.
is that historical bigpopulation?
Yeah.
You
Speaker 10 (11:29):
know, historical plus, you know, the birthplace
of jazz of course in New Orleansand the Blues in Chicago.
a lot of the musicians madetheir way up from, you know,
from New Orleans to St.
Louis to Chicago, you know, andit's amazing how many people we
have and.
when I started cooking it, itjust like people were coming,
you know, and it's like, oh myGod, this is the place to go.
And then, you know, it was whatwe call no hotdog in the gumbo,
(11:49):
you know?
It's a real thing.
No macaroni
Francis (11:52):
in the chili.
No hot dogs in the gumbo.
Yeah, exactly.
And it was like, come
Speaker 10 (11:54):
on, you know?
You know people like, oh, those.
Let's do New Orleans style food.
Let's put, well, we can't findany duy.
Let's put hot dogs in there andlet's put like a pound of
cayenne pepper in there.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
No hotdog in the gumbo.
I like that.
That's not really it, Ben.
What I like about it is nohurricanes, but maybe a lot of
snow.
Yeah, exactly.
Francis (12:11):
I got a, I got, I got a sister who puts elbow macaroni
in the chili.
I keep saying there's no pastain Mexico.
Oh my.
I got.
Alright, we, this segment'sgonna end and I wanna save
talking about cocktails to thenext segment.
I wanna talk about your book inthe next segment.
'cause you can't talk about NewOrleans without talking about
cocktails.
Great.
Um, but you, your originalrestaurant was on the seventh
floor.
Right now we just opened oursecond restaurant and it's on
(12:33):
the second floor.
Oh, great.
And we are nuts.
Are you?
Three and a half times as nutsas we are for Oh, I've got one
on the
Speaker 10 (12:38):
second floor too.
Oh, I see.
Yeah.
The first one's on the seventhfloor.
Second one's on the secondfloor, and then the, the third
one is on the, on the, on themain floor.
On the ground floor.
And
Francis (12:47):
don't you find it, it's, it, it's a little harder.
Like there's a certain reticenceof people to make the commitment
of going all the way up for someOh, yeah.
Well,
Speaker 10 (12:53):
I mean, for the seventh floor especially, we've
defied all odds, you know,because it is in a nondescript
medical building, where peopleare like.
And what the heck is this?
But it's got, it's actually, uh,it's got a real, it's a cult
following.
It's kind of, actually, it'svery new, new Orleans.
Like, you know.
Well,
Francis (13:08):
it's, it's the kind of thing about where once you find
it, it's your secret hideaway.
Exactly.
Little clubby kind of place.
And
Speaker 10 (13:12):
everybody has, you know, I was in the elevator
going down yesterday and they,and, and, and I, I kind of
followed these people out, youknow, and they were talking
about, they, I heard'em talkingabout the whole story type of
thing.
You know, it's, it's prettyinteresting.
Everybody has their own littletwist.
Francis (13:24):
Right.
And how they make it your own.
How they make your place theirown.
Joining us is fellowrestaurateur, Jimmy Anos, who
with his family owns Heaven onseven New Orleans style group of
restaurants in Chicago.
He also co-authored a book, aNew Orleans cocktails called Big
Easy Cocktails, jazzy Drinks,and Savory Bites from New
Orleans.
Hey Jimmy.
So how important are cocktailsto New Orleans cuisine and to
(13:45):
New Orleans in general?
Speaker 10 (13:47):
Well, you know, all you gotta do is say one word is
just Bourbon Street, you know?
Right, right.
You know, it's got, you know,it's not called skim.
It's
Francis (13:54):
not, it's not called skim milk Street for a reason.
Yeah, exactly.
You know,
Speaker 10 (13:56):
so, I mean, you take it for what you want, you know,
it's just, uh, not that, uh, youknow, every time we go to New
Orleans you're getting hammered,but, uh, it's, uh, most people
Speaker 12 (14:05):
I know every time they go to New Orleans, they, as
a matter of fact, now that
Speaker 10 (14:08):
I think about it.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, yeah, exactly.
Now that I think about that,lemme rephrase it.
No, but it's, uh, you know what,um.
I, I wanted to do a book of, youknow, the traditional drinks and
then kind of my.
Twist on some of them also too.
And then, uh, and then I wantedto do, uh, you know, we have
like 30 or so different, uh,appetizer snack, uh, uh,
recipes.
Like we have an open facemuffett, you know, which we take
(14:30):
it and, uh, you know, layer withthe meats and cheeses in the all
salad and just bake it in theoven for like 12 minutes and
it's a, great little snack.
You could eat the whole thing oryou could cut it up and it's a,
you know, good o for appetizersand things.
And, uh.
The drinks a, uh, a bananasfoster drink.
You take, um, you know, somerum, some premium vanilla ice
cream, some ripe bananas and uh,creamy banana.
(14:50):
It's like a lako.
I don't you love that word.
Creamy banana drives me crazy.
I
Francis (14:55):
do, if I'm a girl, you naughty little kitten.
I'm not, I'm not drinking thatJimmy.
I'm more, I'm more like the ryecach kind of a guy.
I'm a guy.
Speaker 10 (15:09):
Yeah, exactly.
But I'm telling you, you'll likethis.
It's those pool drinks, man.
Both drinks
Francis (15:14):
maybe for dessert.
I don't know.
I'm a guy and I'm over 22.
I can't drink something.
Looks like that.
It's pretty and all, but youknow it's a chick drink anyway.
Exactly.
But there's a lot of Really,
Speaker 6 (15:25):
oh my God, I can, I can just read the email now and
see them.
Yeah, I see them flooding inacross my computers.
Lighting up across the world.
Francis (15:32):
Oh.
And I'm sorry, I just, I
Speaker 6 (15:34):
want everybody to remember Francis said it's a
chick drink.
Yeah.
And I want, mark did not saythat.
And I want
Francis (15:38):
everybody to remember to, to try and envision in their
head my three 30 pound partnertrying to drink a bananas Foster
drink at the bar.
Wouldn't you find it amusing?
But his wife could drink one andyou wouldn't find it amusing.
And that's my point.
But you know, new Orleans hasgot a really important history,
you know.
It as, as far as cocktails areconcerned, I mean, Antoine Pecho
invented Peau Bitters.
Theres the CAC comes from there,the Ramos fizz.
(16:00):
Those are probably two of themost important drinks in
American cocktail history.
Doesn't think.
Speaker 10 (16:04):
Yeah, exactly.
Brandy Milk Punch.
And you know, it's just, I'mthinking, even thinking about
the Bloody Maryam, I don't knowwhat the origin of that, but I
mean, you know.
I, I can't, uh, can't beat abloody mirror when you're in
know, especially New Orleans.
Francis (16:15):
Well, new Orleans is, new Orleans is very specific
for, um, they have a lot of, inthe history of the cocktails,
'cause we had Ted ha on Dr.
Cocktail just recently abouthis, uh, recent book.
And, and he's a great guy and wetalked to him a lot off the air
as well.
But one of the things he saidwas that New Orleans was
particularly well known for, um,what they call eye openers,
which was like the Ramos fizzwas an eyeopener.
In other words, morning, thewhole idea of the
Speaker 6 (16:35):
cocktail in.
In the very early stages ofcocktail was that it was
actually a morning drink.
Right.
Which, you know, most of us trynot to drink in the morning.
I'm, I'm for it.
Yeah, exactly.
You
Francis (16:46):
know, the other, there was an interesting point in your
book where you wrote, you andyour co-author wrote, Booze
bankrolled, the restaurant,dynasties of the towns.
So cocktails play a prettyimportant role in that city's
history overall.
I mean, it, it's, if it weren'tfor the booze, those, those
amazing restaurants that NewOrleans became known for
wouldn't have been able tobecome what they were.
Speaker 10 (17:03):
you know, you have the great bars also too, you
know?
Mm-hmm.
And it's all, uh, it is all kindof, all mixed into one.
my best story is, and you know,You guys have been there.
You know, you go for Cafe Dumontfor a couple, some beignets in
the morning and well, where arewe gonna go for like mid, mid
meal?
You know, we don't go lunch, wedo a mid meal, you know, you
know, before, before, uh, beforelunch.
(17:25):
So then we go there.
Then after that we're going,well, where are we going for
lunch?
And then we're going for like,you know, supper, where we're
going for dinner and where we'regoing for late night.
You know, it's just, uh, andthat's the whole kind of New
Orleans culture, you know, it'sall about food.
It's all about.
beverage and, and, and people,people, it's
Francis (17:40):
not, it's not exactly a svet city like Miami.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
Tell me about
Speaker 6 (17:43):
it.
You know, it's, it you, but youtalk about how, you know, the
cocktail culture can helpencourage restaurants to grow.
I mean, we have that sameexperience here in.
In New Brunswick, New Jerseywhere we have a, a very large
kind of cocktail crowd andthey'll go to the new place and
support it for the, for a year.
Right.
And restaurants kind of get achance to work the kinks out
(18:04):
while they have this kind ofcocktail culture to keep them
alive.
Oh, that's pretty nice.
And so you have some really, areally diverse, uh, assortment
of restaurants here that's grownin New Brunswick.
And a lot of that is because ofthat cocktail culture has, has
supported these places whilethey kind of got all their kinks
out and became real restaurants.
That's nice.
Francis (18:23):
Now you own, you own a couple of restaurants in Chicago
and, and you've written.
A couple of books and this bookon cocktails in Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
Are you seeing the same kind ofrebirth of the cocktail in
Chicago as we are in New Yorkand, and this area around here?
Speaker 10 (18:35):
Yeah.
We've seen in the last coupleyears, have you seen it really
happen?
I mean, you saw like, food, winethis year, you know, the year of
the cocktail.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, I think people like tocome out and have a, I mean,
everybody's into wine, you know.
You.
As long as we get'em off themerlott, it'd be fine, you know?
But, but, uh, you know,everybody is, and so, which I
love Merlot too.
I don't want, you know, I don'twanna get any letters.
You know what's, there you go.
(18:56):
You got me two more letters.
Thanks very much.
What's going on?
You merlo know.
But, uh, you know, just come inand have a, couple cocktails
before and after dinner, drinkor coffee with something in
there.
You know, it's, it's the wholething, but then you got, then
you have the other flip side ofit.
I mean, if you're in New YorkCity.
a lot of them aren't driving.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
But, uh, you know, you gottaworry about, you know, the DUIs
and stuff like that.
You gotta be responsible
Francis (19:17):
I, I think that's one of the reasons that you're
seeing, you're seeing cocktailsreally in cities more than you
are elsewhere.
Mm-hmm.
Even in New Brunswick, NewJersey, which is a small city
by, you know, nationalstandards, you have a few
cocktail places, including, wehave one, but there's, there's
another one in town.
Clyde's is famous for theircocktails.
Um, but I think that.
You know, they, they have,there's a proportion of the
(19:37):
people who are going to Clydesand coming to our place that
either can take a taxi home,right?
It's, uh,
Speaker 6 (19:42):
or can walk home.
New Brunswick's gone through akind of regentrification.
So you do have a lot of peoplewho live in town and, and you
know, maybe they work in thecity or they work for, uh, one
of the local corporations andthey're, and they're living in,
you know, one of the high risesor one of the places around.
But they can walk home or again,take a cab home.
Yeah.
That's nice.
And that's a big differencethan, you know, out in the
(20:04):
middle of South Brunswick.
Yeah.
Where you still can take a cabhome.
And we do have some people Yeah.
But it costs$35 instead.
Take an hour to get there.
Three bucks.
Right
Francis (20:11):
Now you have a couple of restaurants in the city and
you also have ventured outta thecity a little bit, huh?
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Yeah, I've got two in the city and I've got,
another heaven on seven, uh, ina place called Naperville,
Illinois.
It's like about 165,000 people.
It's a huge town.
And then, uh,
Speaker 6 (20:24):
is it on the seventh floor?
Speaker 10 (20:25):
No, that's on the main floor.
And then I just open up actuallya breakfast place about, uh, in,
uh, beginning of February.
Francis (20:30):
How do you find the place in the suburbs versus the
place in the city?
Are they very different to run?
Very different, differently.
Received definitely
Speaker 10 (20:36):
different clientele.
Definitely like, like we'll see,I'll see in my suburban
location, we'll have more women.
It reminds me of a verystereotypical New Orleans
restaurant where, people willcome and lu really lunch there.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, they'll, the women willpull the strollers up with the
kids.
They're having a couplecocktails, which is.
You know, and they're, they'resitting there chatting the whole
(20:57):
time, and it's a, it's a, youknow, Friday afternoon, Saturday
afternoon, you know, we dobrunch on Saturdays and Sundays,
and it's a, it's really, uh,it's a, it's a pretty good
happening, you know, type ofthing where, you
Francis (21:08):
know, and as opposed to the city is what
Speaker 10 (21:09):
Yeah.
Everybody's, you know,everybody's on a timeframe.
They, except when it's, dinner.
Nobody's, nobody's having acocktail for lunch anymore.
Those days are gone.
Francis (21:17):
Yeah.
That's sad, ain't it?
That's very sad.
You know, it's funny, you knowwhat's funny is Mark and I will
occasionally, you know, itdepends on the company and
obviously you observe like wedo, but we'll occasionally do
business with Europeans for onereason or another.
Right.
I love going out to lunch withthe French guys.
'cause even the bankers, you cansit down and have a, you know,
they'll, they'll have a glass ofwine, but you know, woe to the
young intern who orders anAmstel when his boss takes him
out to lunch for the first time.
Right?
Right.
And like his boss orders nicetea and then he gets a dirty
(21:39):
look for ordering a.
Right.
A, a light beer with lunch andthey wanna think, well, you guys
just
Speaker 10 (21:43):
grow up.
Everybody stands up in therestaurant and starts pointing
at the guy.
Yeah, exactly.
Like
Speaker 6 (21:48):
he's fired.
It's like watching TheApprentice.
My problem with too manycocktails at lunch is that, you
know, I still got 14 hours leftin my day.
That's the, I gotta get to
Francis (21:56):
two in the morning.
Hey Jimmy, wanna thank you forcoming on the show You've been.
Hey, thanks for having me, guys.
Appreciate it's really super.
Uh, the man's name is JimmyAnos.
He's the chef and owner of, uh,heaven on seven restaurants in
Chicago.
His book is called Big EasyCocktails.
We'll put a link up to that bookon our website, uh, and you can
check it out.
And if you're going to Chicago,you should pay him a visit.
Thanks for being on the show,man.
You're listening to theRestaurant Guys, Our guest was
(22:18):
Jimmy Banos.
Sounds like a really nice guy.
Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6 (22:21):
definitely, definitely kind of guy.
I would visit him.
Be fun to go out and have acouple of coffee.
Can I, can
Francis (22:26):
I tell you so.
I will go visit his restaurantswhen I go visit Tiago, but then
I want to go take him for drinkselsewhere.
Do you know what I mean?
No, no.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
I want him to take us for drinks elsewhere.
Oh, that's right.
That's what, because he's gonnaknow all the hotspots.
Yeah,
Francis (22:36):
that's exactly what I meant.
Um, we were talking about, andwe didn't get a chance he had to
run, we didn't get a chance totalk about some of the
interesting things that aretalked about in this book.
It's not just a collection ofrecipes.
although there are some cocktailrecipes and there are some, food
recipes in here.
As well.
He talks about the history ofthe cocktail in New Orleans.
And New Orleans was a veryimportant city for the cocktail.
(22:59):
It's the home of Antoine Peauwho invented Pecho Bear.
You
Speaker 6 (23:01):
know, you, you're selling it short a little
though.
It's still a very important cityfor the cocktail.
Francis (23:05):
I'm sorry.
It was important for the birthof the cocktail.
Mm-hmm.
And actually there's, there's astory there.
Custom, some competing storiesabout where the word cocktail
comes from.
Um, but.
Pecho was a pharmacist who wassort of like a pharmacist
bartender.
There was a fine line back then.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and, uh, mix salad.
He used to serve what eventuallygrew into the, uh, the ACH
cocktail and his littlepharmacy, in egg cups.
(23:28):
And, and he spoke French, ofcourse, in, in the, uh, there
were always French and Anglospeakers in, in New Orleans.
And he served his cocktail in alittle egg cup, which is in
French as a ti.
And, uh, what.
they posit that ETT becamecocktail, uh, which there are
references to cocktail from NewOrleans in a while that
eventually became cocktail.
And so the original cocktailwould have been.
(23:51):
The, the precursor to a akmm-hmm.
In New Orleans, invented byAntoine PE showed.
Now there's a competing, thereare several competing stories,
New York, but that sounds prettyreasonable.
Mm-hmm.
And I wouldn't raise any ofthose competing stories if
you're in New Orleans.
You know what I mean?
Just, just talk about that one.
Yeah.
That's, that's the one you wantto go with if you're there.
Um, and so Antoine Pei showedwas pretty important, but, but
(24:12):
then the other, the one I loveis, is the Ramos Fizz.
Mm-hmm.
And this is a drink that youwon't find, I don't know any
place in New Jersey for you tofind it.
Well, just one.
Except for our own, except forCatherine Lombardi, because,
well, you and I love it so much.
but that's a, that's a classicdrink.
it was, hold on a second.
It was brought by the Ramosbrothers.
Which Ram?
The Henry Ramos survivedProhibition.
That's a cocktail that straddlesprohibition.
(24:34):
Mm-hmm.
It existed before prohibitionand was really popular
supposedly.
In the 1915 carnival season, thebar that was owned by the Ramos
brothers had to employ 35bartenders all working at once,
just mixing up Ramos Fizzes.
Yet the place still had linesaround the block.
Right?
That's a lot of fizzes.
Isn't that crazy?
It's a lot of fizzing.
And, and then after prohibition,uh, one of the Ramos brothers,
(24:57):
Henry Ramos survived.
And he went on to the RooseveltHotel rather than open, uh, his
old bar was called the ImperialCabinet.
So rather than reopen theImperial cabinet, he went to the
Roosevelt Hotel Hotel, which atthat point then became the home
of both the Ramos Fizz and theCak.
And you could have it made by.
Henry Ramos,
Speaker 6 (25:15):
but you need to tell people why the Ramos fizz was
such a, a labor intensivecocktail.
Francis (25:19):
Ramos Fiz uses egg white as many of the drinks at
the time did, as our ours does.
Mm-hmm.
It used milk, which was, uh, youknow, unusual and it not as
unusual then as it is now.
Uh, it's not a heavy drinkthough.
It's not like a cream ofwhatever.
It's just uses a little bit ofmilk in there.
Um, it uses, uh, gin, uh, it hassome flavoring stuff in it as
well, and it has just a coupleof drops of orange flour water,
(25:41):
which.
You know, one drop of that stuffis, is perfect, two drops, and
it smells like the inside ofyour grandmother's purse.
Um, and then you shake it and ithas to be shaken and shaken.
And at the Roosevelt Hotel, theyhad this shtick where they would
line up like 10 bartenders andthey would shake the Ramos.
The one bartender would shake itfor a while.
In
Speaker 12 (25:57):
order to get it to fizz, you really need to shake
this drink.
And you shake it and shake itand shake it, and shake and
shake it.
Francis (26:02):
And then, and then that bartender would pass it to the
next bartender who would shakeit.
It would pass to the nextbartender who would shake it.
And then it gets served not onice, but in a Collins glass.
Mm-hmm.
Like a Tumblr.
You fill it up three quarters ofthe way and it's got this egg
white, frothy thing to it, andthen you add soda to it and
that's brings it out.
And it's just the most light andethereal, delicate drink.
I had it only recently otherthan our, at our place.
(26:22):
I went to, again, our favoritecocktail place in New York.
It wasn't on the menu, but Iasked for it and because it's
the best cocktail place world.
And of course they had all theingredients and knew exactly how
to make it.
They said, oh yeah, hold on.
And I was out with, uh, me, myfriend Corey, and my friend
Dale, Dale DeGraff, who's themost famous part in the world.
My friend Fred, uh, and all inthe restaurant business and, uh,
the bartender.
(26:42):
You were at
Speaker 6 (26:43):
Pega Club.
You didn't mention the, the nameof the place.
Oh, sorry.
I
Francis (26:45):
was at the Pega Club.
Yeah.
Audrey Saunders place.
Mm-hmm.
Who's coming on the show soon.
And, uh, the bartender picked upthe made the Ramos fizz.
And I said, can I get a Ramosfizz?
And the guy said, sure.
Like it was nothing.
Right.
This is probably the only bar inNew York you can do that.
And the guy makes the drink the.
And in and shakes it in thecoolest move ever.
He started shaking it and thenhe handed it to Dale DeGraff,
(27:05):
who started shaking it, whohanded it to me, who shook it
and handed it to Fred, who shookit and handed it to Corey who
shook it and handed it back tothe bartender, and he made the
ramo fiz.
And that was just really cool.
I'm sorry.
That was just really, reallycool.
One of the
Speaker 6 (27:17):
things I like about the, the, the Pegu guys is they
are historians, the, thebartenders and, and now we've
begun using the expression barchef or ologist at Pegu Club.
Mm-hmm.
They're historians, they, theydon't just know about the
drinks.
It's like a great sommelierknows the story about the wine
he serving you.
These guys know the story of thecocktail they're serving you.
And a lot of times the story hasto do with exactly how the drink
(27:40):
is made.
Like the Ramos Fizz, forinstance, the story behind the
Ramos fizz that it got passedfrom bartender to bartender to
bartender.
Well, what does that tell youabout how it's made?
What it means is you need toshake this drink so much more
than any other cocktail you'veever made in order to make it
right.
So if you know the story, youknow how to make it right.
Francis (27:56):
And
Speaker 6 (27:56):
you
Francis (27:56):
know what was really cool about that?
Is I asked for Ramos Fizz and hejust knew it and then he just
assumed we knew the story.
So he just handed up thecocktail shaker and we did.
I was in like a James Bondmovie.
I'm a fat 40-year-old guy.
You're just not that cool.
No.
James Bond, I get very, you areno James Bond.
I get fewer.
You're like
Speaker 6 (28:11):
double
Francis (28:12):
Oh.
Oh.
I get fewer and fewer moments ofcool as time goes on.
I gotta embrace the one I, whenI get'em, I tell about'em on the
radio.
I live'em again.
Anyway, we'll be back in just amoment.
You're listening to theRestaurant guys, Hello everybody
(28:47):
and welcome back.
You're listening to theRestaurant Guys, mark and
Francis of Stage Left andCaptain Lombardi.
Restaurants in New Brunswick,New Jersey.
We're talking about New Orleanstoday.
Uh, our guest, hi Chicago at thesame time and Chicago Jimmy Anos
was, is a owner of uh, heaven onseven.
A New Orleans inspiredrestaurant chain in Chicago, and
his book is called Big EasyCocktails, and he has some great
(29:07):
stuff in the beginning of thebook.
It's a trend that I'm seeingmore and more is when you get
cocktail books or when you getcookbooks, they're not just
collections of recipes anymore.
Mm-hmm.
They contextualize what's insidethe book.
They contextualize and theirhistorical books more and more,
and it's not just that they maynot
Speaker 6 (29:20):
necessarily be historical books.
That may be books that give youthe perspective of the person
who's writing them and
Francis (29:26):
they're good to read and they have to be well read
and fun to read, or they don't,you know.
Cookbooks are, are a goodmarket.
You can make good living.
Let's write a cookbook market.
I think it's a great idea.
Um, anyway, the, one of thestories they tell inside the
book is, is a story that I knewthat I had, had heard related to
me, uh, over the bar from atsome point.
It's one of those things thatjust sticks in back of your
head.
I don't know where I got it,but, you know, it was Huey Long
(29:47):
who was the, the governor ofLouisiana.
Mm-hmm.
Who eventually became UnitedStates Senator, who eventually
was shot.
In the halls of the SenateChamber of like the, the State
House in Louisiana or something.
He was murdered.
I got that a little bit wrong,but he was dead.
That's, he was shot.
He's dead.
That's when I got that.
Right.
But when he went from beinggovernor of Louisiana, you know
what, I
Speaker 6 (30:07):
just, right now I just wish I were smart enough to
correct.
You
Francis (30:11):
went so does the rest of the listening audience.
Um, but when he went fromLouisiana to Washington, and
this is how, you know, thingsspread before the age of the
internet, he.
Packed along a lot of his, hisfavorite belongings, one of them
being a bartender.
And, and he took a bartenderfrom New Orleans to Washington
and, and Ramos Fizz became therage, and Cex became the rage.
(30:33):
DC and New Orleans Stylescocktails became the rage in
Washington DC and then they wentback and spread out through the
country that way.
And I, I think that'sfascinating.
Don't you?
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Well, it's, you know, it's a little history, you know,
that that's, these thingsdidn't, they didn't just happen
the way things happen now.
You know, you didn't telephone,you didn't have telephones, you
didn't, you know, it had to goWord of mouth and word of word
of barman.
Francis (30:54):
Exactly.
I'll give you one more piece ofinformation.
Uh, it's, there's a lot, there'san old adage that says that
during prohibition, the, the twocities that ignored prohibition
most were New York City and NewOrleans.
And I think that that was reallyled to the survival of a lot of
these cocktails.
That's true.
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed thehour listening to the
restaurant.
Guys.
I'm Francis Shot.
And I'm Mark
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Pascal.
Francis (31:13):
We are the restaurant guys, central Jersey 1415.
Today our guest is Jimmy Anos, who with his family
owns Heaven on seven, a NewOrleans style restaurant in
Chicago.
He's also co-authored a book onNew Orleans cocktails that's out
now called Big Easy Cocktails,jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites
from New Orleans.
Jimmy, why a New Orleansrestaurant in Chicago?
Speaker 10 (06:00):
Crazy, ain't it?
Yeah.
Did you get lost?
What happened?
I'm lost.
I made the wrong turn.
You know, I, uh, well, 20, 26years ago, my, uh, well my
parents, my dad and myself inthe kitchen, my mom, my brother
in the back of the house, webought a, uh, I'm a third
generation restaurateur, so, youknow, so your
Francis (06:18):
whole family's crazy.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And actually I'm firstgeneration crazy.
And what do you, what do think,actually my
Speaker 10 (06:24):
son is be fourth generation.
He just graduated up.
Culinary school two years ago,and he is working in New York
right now, so it's easy.
Uh, where's he working?
He's actually working with, uh,a buddy of mine, Mario Vital, at
uh, uh, his restaurant calledDel Posto.
Great place.
We, we've eaten there andactually great place
Francis (06:38):
actually.
We, we went to college withMario.
Speaker 10 (06:40):
Oh yeah.
We're at Rutgers.
Yeah.
Francis (06:42):
Yeah.
That's, that's where we'rebroadcast out of.
We're broadcast out of NewBrunswick, New Jersey.
Oh, awesome.
Look at that.
The world is a small, smallplace.
Is it not?
And as
Speaker 10 (06:48):
we get older, as you know, it's getting smaller and
smaller.
Now, where's your son?
That's only,
Speaker 6 (06:53):
that's only'cause I'm getting bigger and bigger.
Jake
Speaker 10 (06:55):
thought you've seen a picture of me.
Have you?
Well then we talk about big,we're talking about Mario too.
Nobody, nobody trusts skinny.
Nobody trust skinny
Francis (07:03):
re tur.
So, um.
Where, uh, where's your sonworking?
Which, which place?
Uh, he's
Speaker 10 (07:07):
working at Del Poso.
Francis (07:08):
At Del Poso.
Wow, that's a fabulous, fabulousrestaurant.
Speaker 10 (07:10):
Yeah, a really great opportunity for him.
And he's learning a lot.
It's, uh, it's a really goodexperience.
21-year-old kid.
It's a great experience for
Francis (07:17):
him.
You know, what's, what'sinteresting is when we see, and
I'm sure you did the same thing,and I think that, you know,
'cause.
A lot of people out there whoare listening to the show don't
own restaurants or work inrestaurants.
When you see, um, someone'swhose family owned a small
restaurant mm-hmm.
On a resume, you hire thatperson almost,
Speaker 6 (07:31):
almost automatically.
Sure.
Nobody
Francis (07:33):
knows hard work like a restaurateur kid.
Speaker 10 (07:34):
Yeah.
You know, I started washingdishes at nine, you know?
Mm-hmm.
And, and I actually really likedit, and it's just, uh, working
my way up, going to culinaryschool and then, uh, college for
a little bit.
And, uh, I would never thinkabout doing anything else, you
know?
and, and I love the business andI, I never, I would never try to
talk my kids into it.
I was never one to force'em intoit because, you know, you know
how it is.
Anybody ever force their kid inany type of business, what
(07:55):
always happens is a disaster.
You know, I'm thinking about
Speaker 6 (07:58):
forcing my kids out of it.
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 10 (07:59):
Yeah, exactly.
So, you know, and I told'em, Isaid, you know, we were looking
at, you know, CIA and JohnsonWales and stuff like that.
And I told him, I said, listen,don't, uh, I don't want why want
you go in this business.
I eat, drink, and sleep it.
You see me all these years.
You know what we do?
And he said, Hey, listen, don't,don't ask me that question
again.
This is what I want to do.
This is, I've always wanted todo.
So he's, uh, he's got, you know,he's got a great resume.
(08:20):
Went to, you know, worked atEmeralds in New Orleans already.
El Forno and Providence, RhodeIsland.
Uh.
Couple great restaurants, me atFrancesca's in Chicago, a place
called Miramar.
Francis (08:28):
So let's talk about when you were his age and you're
outta culinary school and you'recoming up in your parents'
restaurant and you, you openedthe new Garland Coffee Shop in
Chicago, right?
Right.
you're a young chef, you'recooking great food, and you
decide to take your parents'Chicago restaurant, which is the
new Garland Coffee Shop andreinvent it, and you get them to
buy in.
As, uh, heaven on seven, A NewOrleans style restaurant.
(08:49):
Right.
How'd that come about?
Man,
Speaker 10 (08:50):
you know, it was, how I would travel would be
through my, through my, throughdifferent cookbooks, you know,
we were almost, almost newlymarried at the time, and, you
know, busted no money, you know,of course three families with
three families working outta onejoint, you know?
Right.
And, and, uh, you know, andthen, and how I would travel
through cookbooks.
So I got Paul Peron's cookbookand, uh, back in early 84, I
(09:11):
think, when I came out 84, 85.
And, uh, made a couple thingsfrom him.
People went crazy for it, youknow, and then I, I, so I called
him up and said, Hey, chef.
You know, I kind of told him mystory and he says, why don't you
come on down?
So I, I flew down there and Ihad about a two hour meeting.
It was an instant kind of, uh, alove fest.
You know, we really, it's likewe were long lost brothers, we
just, uh, took a liking for eachother.
(09:31):
And he says, why don't you hangout in my kitchen for the night
and.
A guy named Frank Bryson was thehead chef back then who owns a
place called Bryson's in NewOrleans.
Mm-hmm.
Sure.
Greg.
Greg and Mary Sonya wasactually, it's one of the best
restaurants down there in, uh,Greg and Mary Sonya, a place
called the Gabriela's.
And, and so did you
Francis (09:46):
work in these places or you just lodge in the kitchens?
Speaker 10 (09:47):
No, no, no.
I just hung out in the kitchenthat night and became friends
with all these guys and just,you know, I, I've been blessed
to thank God with a good palate.
when I taste something, I canusually recreate it and I just
kind of put my spin on it.
my original restaurantespecially, and I've got three
of'em, you know, three heaven onseven of them.
But my original place is, uh.
You know, just open breakfastand lunch and you know,
basically po boys ate to fe youknow, red beans and stuff like
(10:10):
that.
Mm-hmm.
You know, one pot cooking andthen we kind of, elevated a
little bit and it's what I callthe creolization of anything I
get my hands on, you know, soit's, uh, you know, we'll do
like a sesame crusted pancakechicken.
We'll do a.
great beef tips with a, um,homemade wisher sauce, fried
vil, onion crush.
Now,
Francis (10:26):
what year was this when you opened the original Heaven
on seven, uh, 1980.
How did people react, to that inChicago?
I mean, you know what?
Speaker 10 (10:32):
Because, only because, I mean, new Orleans
style, there's a, there's a hugeconnection between New Orleans
and Chicago, so when I starteddoing it, people were, I mean,
it.
Cross-cultural, uh, boundaries.
I mean, we had a guy from,Illinois state, uh, Supreme
Court Justice, sitting at a, youknow, because we have a counter
where we have like a.
13 seat counter, you know, allof a sudden the, the judge
Supreme Court judges is eating,uh, eating a bowl of gumbo.
(10:55):
Then I got a guy from thestreets of San, sanitation, and
the city's eating a bowl of redbeans, and next to him is a, is
a, a, you know, streetwise guywas kind of homeless, homeless
guy, selling newspaper.
He's sitting there and sothey're all talking, you know
what I'm saying?
Uh huh And they're all talkingabout food or all, you know,
it's like, Hey, is thissomething different?
this is something where I gotback home, I'm from New Orleans,
I'm ex uh, new orian and stufflike that.
(11:15):
So then it just kind of, justtook,
Francis (11:17):
and that's, and that's really the purpose of, of what
the best purpose of whatrestaurants are all about is
when they're locus of community.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
So Jimmy, uh, are the, do you imply that there are
a lot of, new Orleanstransplants in the Chicago area?
Uh, definitely.
is that historical bigpopulation?
Yeah.
You
Speaker 10 (11:29):
know, historical plus, you know, the birthplace
of jazz of course in New Orleansand the Blues in Chicago.
a lot of the musicians madetheir way up from, you know,
from New Orleans to St.
Louis to Chicago, you know, andit's amazing how many people we
have and.
when I started cooking it, itjust like people were coming,
you know, and it's like, oh myGod, this is the place to go.
And then, you know, it was whatwe call no hotdog in the gumbo,
(11:49):
you know?
It's a real thing.
No macaroni
Francis (11:52):
in the chili.
No hot dogs in the gumbo.
Yeah, exactly.
And it was like, come
Speaker 10 (11:54):
on, you know?
You know people like, oh, those.
Let's do New Orleans style food.
Let's put, well, we can't findany duy.
Let's put hot dogs in there andlet's put like a pound of
cayenne pepper in there.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
No hotdog in the gumbo.
I like that.
That's not really it, Ben.
What I like about it is nohurricanes, but maybe a lot of
snow.
Yeah, exactly.
Francis (12:11):
I got a, I got, I got a sister who puts elbow macaroni
in the chili.
I keep saying there's no pastain Mexico.
Oh my.
I got.
Alright, we, this segment'sgonna end and I wanna save
talking about cocktails to thenext segment.
I wanna talk about your book inthe next segment.
'cause you can't talk about NewOrleans without talking about
cocktails.
Great.
Um, but you, your originalrestaurant was on the seventh
floor.
Right now we just opened oursecond restaurant and it's on
(12:33):
the second floor.
Oh, great.
And we are nuts.
Are you?
Three and a half times as nutsas we are for Oh, I've got one
on the
Speaker 10 (12:38):
second floor too.
Oh, I see.
Yeah.
The first one's on the seventhfloor.
Second one's on the secondfloor, and then the, the third
one is on the, on the, on themain floor.
On the ground floor.
And
Francis (12:47):
don't you find it, it's, it, it's a little harder.
Like there's a certain reticenceof people to make the commitment
of going all the way up for someOh, yeah.
Well,
Speaker 10 (12:53):
I mean, for the seventh floor especially, we've
defied all odds, you know,because it is in a nondescript
medical building, where peopleare like.
And what the heck is this?
But it's got, it's actually, uh,it's got a real, it's a cult
following.
It's kind of, actually, it'svery new, new Orleans.
Like, you know.
Well,
Francis (13:08):
it's, it's the kind of thing about where once you find
it, it's your secret hideaway.
Exactly.
Little clubby kind of place.
And
Speaker 10 (13:12):
everybody has, you know, I was in the elevator
going down yesterday and they,and, and, and I, I kind of
followed these people out, youknow, and they were talking
about, they, I heard'em talkingabout the whole story type of
thing.
You know, it's, it's prettyinteresting.
Everybody has their own littletwist.
Francis (13:24):
Right.
And how they make it your own.
How they make your place theirown.
Joining us is fellowrestaurateur, Jimmy Anos, who
with his family owns Heaven onseven New Orleans style group of
restaurants in Chicago.
He also co-authored a book, aNew Orleans cocktails called Big
Easy Cocktails, jazzy Drinks,and Savory Bites from New
Orleans.
Hey Jimmy.
So how important are cocktailsto New Orleans cuisine and to
(13:45):
New Orleans in general?
Speaker 10 (13:47):
Well, you know, all you gotta do is say one word is
just Bourbon Street, you know?
Right, right.
You know, it's got, you know,it's not called skim.
It's
Francis (13:54):
not, it's not called skim milk Street for a reason.
Yeah, exactly.
You know,
Speaker 10 (13:56):
so, I mean, you take it for what you want, you know,
it's just, uh, not that, uh, youknow, every time we go to New
Orleans you're getting hammered,but, uh, it's, uh, most people
Speaker 12 (14:05):
I know every time they go to New Orleans, they, as
a matter of fact, now that
Speaker 10 (14:08):
I think about it.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, yeah, exactly.
Now that I think about that,lemme rephrase it.
No, but it's, uh, you know what,um.
I, I wanted to do a book of, youknow, the traditional drinks and
then kind of my.
Twist on some of them also too.
And then, uh, and then I wantedto do, uh, you know, we have
like 30 or so different, uh,appetizer snack, uh, uh,
recipes.
Like we have an open facemuffett, you know, which we take
(14:30):
it and, uh, you know, layer withthe meats and cheeses in the all
salad and just bake it in theoven for like 12 minutes and
it's a, great little snack.
You could eat the whole thing oryou could cut it up and it's a,
you know, good o for appetizersand things.
And, uh.
The drinks a, uh, a bananasfoster drink.
You take, um, you know, somerum, some premium vanilla ice
cream, some ripe bananas and uh,creamy banana.
(14:50):
It's like a lako.
I don't you love that word.
Creamy banana drives me crazy.
I
Francis (14:55):
do, if I'm a girl, you naughty little kitten.
I'm not, I'm not drinking thatJimmy.
I'm more, I'm more like the ryecach kind of a guy.
I'm a guy.
Speaker 10 (15:09):
Yeah, exactly.
But I'm telling you, you'll likethis.
It's those pool drinks, man.
Both drinks
Francis (15:14):
maybe for dessert.
I don't know.
I'm a guy and I'm over 22.
I can't drink something.
Looks like that.
It's pretty and all, but youknow it's a chick drink anyway.
Exactly.
But there's a lot of Really,
Speaker 6 (15:25):
oh my God, I can, I can just read the email now and
see them.
Yeah, I see them flooding inacross my computers.
Lighting up across the world.
Francis (15:32):
Oh.
And I'm sorry, I just, I
Speaker 6 (15:34):
want everybody to remember Francis said it's a
chick drink.
Yeah.
And I want, mark did not saythat.
And I want
Francis (15:38):
everybody to remember to, to try and envision in their
head my three 30 pound partnertrying to drink a bananas Foster
drink at the bar.
Wouldn't you find it amusing?
But his wife could drink one andyou wouldn't find it amusing.
And that's my point.
But you know, new Orleans hasgot a really important history,
you know.
It as, as far as cocktails areconcerned, I mean, Antoine Pecho
invented Peau Bitters.
Theres the CAC comes from there,the Ramos fizz.
(16:00):
Those are probably two of themost important drinks in
American cocktail history.
Doesn't think.
Speaker 10 (16:04):
Yeah, exactly.
Brandy Milk Punch.
And you know, it's just, I'mthinking, even thinking about
the Bloody Maryam, I don't knowwhat the origin of that, but I
mean, you know.
I, I can't, uh, can't beat abloody mirror when you're in
know, especially New Orleans.
Francis (16:15):
Well, new Orleans is, new Orleans is very specific
for, um, they have a lot of, inthe history of the cocktails,
'cause we had Ted ha on Dr.
Cocktail just recently abouthis, uh, recent book.
And, and he's a great guy and wetalked to him a lot off the air
as well.
But one of the things he saidwas that New Orleans was
particularly well known for, um,what they call eye openers,
which was like the Ramos fizzwas an eyeopener.
In other words, morning, thewhole idea of the
Speaker 6 (16:35):
cocktail in.
In the very early stages ofcocktail was that it was
actually a morning drink.
Right.
Which, you know, most of us trynot to drink in the morning.
I'm, I'm for it.
Yeah, exactly.
You
Francis (16:46):
know, the other, there was an interesting point in your
book where you wrote, you andyour co-author wrote, Booze
bankrolled, the restaurant,dynasties of the towns.
So cocktails play a prettyimportant role in that city's
history overall.
I mean, it, it's, if it weren'tfor the booze, those, those
amazing restaurants that NewOrleans became known for
wouldn't have been able tobecome what they were.
Speaker 10 (17:03):
you know, you have the great bars also too, you
know?
Mm-hmm.
And it's all, uh, it is all kindof, all mixed into one.
my best story is, and you know,You guys have been there.
You know, you go for Cafe Dumontfor a couple, some beignets in
the morning and well, where arewe gonna go for like mid, mid
meal?
You know, we don't go lunch, wedo a mid meal, you know, you
know, before, before, uh, beforelunch.
(17:25):
So then we go there.
Then after that we're going,well, where are we going for
lunch?
And then we're going for like,you know, supper, where we're
going for dinner and where we'regoing for late night.
You know, it's just, uh, andthat's the whole kind of New
Orleans culture, you know, it'sall about food.
It's all about.
beverage and, and, and people,people, it's
Francis (17:40):
not, it's not exactly a svet city like Miami.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
Tell me about
Speaker 6 (17:43):
it.
You know, it's, it you, but youtalk about how, you know, the
cocktail culture can helpencourage restaurants to grow.
I mean, we have that sameexperience here in.
In New Brunswick, New Jerseywhere we have a, a very large
kind of cocktail crowd andthey'll go to the new place and
support it for the, for a year.
Right.
And restaurants kind of get achance to work the kinks out
(18:04):
while they have this kind ofcocktail culture to keep them
alive.
Oh, that's pretty nice.
And so you have some really, areally diverse, uh, assortment
of restaurants here that's grownin New Brunswick.
And a lot of that is because ofthat cocktail culture has, has
supported these places whilethey kind of got all their kinks
out and became real restaurants.
That's nice.
Francis (18:23):
Now you own, you own a couple of restaurants in Chicago
and, and you've written.
A couple of books and this bookon cocktails in Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
Are you seeing the same kind ofrebirth of the cocktail in
Chicago as we are in New Yorkand, and this area around here?
Speaker 10 (18:35):
Yeah.
We've seen in the last coupleyears, have you seen it really
happen?
I mean, you saw like, food, winethis year, you know, the year of
the cocktail.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, I think people like tocome out and have a, I mean,
everybody's into wine, you know.
You.
As long as we get'em off themerlott, it'd be fine, you know?
But, but, uh, you know,everybody is, and so, which I
love Merlot too.
I don't want, you know, I don'twanna get any letters.
You know what's, there you go.
(18:56):
You got me two more letters.
Thanks very much.
What's going on?
You merlo know.
But, uh, you know, just come inand have a, couple cocktails
before and after dinner, drinkor coffee with something in
there.
You know, it's, it's the wholething, but then you got, then
you have the other flip side ofit.
I mean, if you're in New YorkCity.
a lot of them aren't driving.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
But, uh, you know, you gottaworry about, you know, the DUIs
and stuff like that.
You gotta be responsible
Francis (19:17):
I, I think that's one of the reasons that you're
seeing, you're seeing cocktailsreally in cities more than you
are elsewhere.
Mm-hmm.
Even in New Brunswick, NewJersey, which is a small city
by, you know, nationalstandards, you have a few
cocktail places, including, wehave one, but there's, there's
another one in town.
Clyde's is famous for theircocktails.
Um, but I think that.
You know, they, they have,there's a proportion of the
(19:37):
people who are going to Clydesand coming to our place that
either can take a taxi home,right?
It's, uh,
Speaker 6 (19:42):
or can walk home.
New Brunswick's gone through akind of regentrification.
So you do have a lot of peoplewho live in town and, and you
know, maybe they work in thecity or they work for, uh, one
of the local corporations andthey're, and they're living in,
you know, one of the high risesor one of the places around.
But they can walk home or again,take a cab home.
Yeah.
That's nice.
And that's a big differencethan, you know, out in the
(20:04):
middle of South Brunswick.
Yeah.
Where you still can take a cabhome.
And we do have some people Yeah.
But it costs$35 instead.
Take an hour to get there.
Three bucks.
Right
Francis (20:11):
Now you have a couple of restaurants in the city and
you also have ventured outta thecity a little bit, huh?
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Yeah, I've got two in the city and I've got,
another heaven on seven, uh, ina place called Naperville,
Illinois.
It's like about 165,000 people.
It's a huge town.
And then, uh,
Speaker 6 (20:24):
is it on the seventh floor?
Speaker 10 (20:25):
No, that's on the main floor.
And then I just open up actuallya breakfast place about, uh, in,
uh, beginning of February.
Francis (20:30):
How do you find the place in the suburbs versus the
place in the city?
Are they very different to run?
Very different, differently.
Received definitely
Speaker 10 (20:36):
different clientele.
Definitely like, like we'll see,I'll see in my suburban
location, we'll have more women.
It reminds me of a verystereotypical New Orleans
restaurant where, people willcome and lu really lunch there.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, they'll, the women willpull the strollers up with the
kids.
They're having a couplecocktails, which is.
You know, and they're, they'resitting there chatting the whole
(20:57):
time, and it's a, it's a, youknow, Friday afternoon, Saturday
afternoon, you know, we dobrunch on Saturdays and Sundays,
and it's a, it's really, uh,it's a, it's a pretty good
happening, you know, type ofthing where, you
Francis (21:08):
know, and as opposed to the city is what
Speaker 10 (21:09):
Yeah.
Everybody's, you know,everybody's on a timeframe.
They, except when it's, dinner.
Nobody's, nobody's having acocktail for lunch anymore.
Those days are gone.
Francis (21:17):
Yeah.
That's sad, ain't it?
That's very sad.
You know, it's funny, you knowwhat's funny is Mark and I will
occasionally, you know, itdepends on the company and
obviously you observe like wedo, but we'll occasionally do
business with Europeans for onereason or another.
Right.
I love going out to lunch withthe French guys.
'cause even the bankers, you cansit down and have a, you know,
they'll, they'll have a glass ofwine, but you know, woe to the
young intern who orders anAmstel when his boss takes him
out to lunch for the first time.
Right?
Right.
And like his boss orders nicetea and then he gets a dirty
(21:39):
look for ordering a.
Right.
A, a light beer with lunch andthey wanna think, well, you guys
just
Speaker 10 (21:43):
grow up.
Everybody stands up in therestaurant and starts pointing
at the guy.
Yeah, exactly.
Like
Speaker 6 (21:48):
he's fired.
It's like watching TheApprentice.
My problem with too manycocktails at lunch is that, you
know, I still got 14 hours leftin my day.
That's the, I gotta get to
Francis (21:56):
two in the morning.
Hey Jimmy, wanna thank you forcoming on the show You've been.
Hey, thanks for having me, guys.
Appreciate it's really super.
Uh, the man's name is JimmyAnos.
He's the chef and owner of, uh,heaven on seven restaurants in
Chicago.
His book is called Big EasyCocktails.
We'll put a link up to that bookon our website, uh, and you can
check it out.
And if you're going to Chicago,you should pay him a visit.
Thanks for being on the show,man.
You're listening to theRestaurant Guys, Our guest was
(22:18):
Jimmy Banos.
Sounds like a really nice guy.
Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6 (22:21):
definitely, definitely kind of guy.
I would visit him.
Be fun to go out and have acouple of coffee.
Can I, can
Francis (22:26):
I tell you so.
I will go visit his restaurantswhen I go visit Tiago, but then
I want to go take him for drinkselsewhere.
Do you know what I mean?
No, no.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
I want him to take us for drinks elsewhere.
Oh, that's right.
That's what, because he's gonnaknow all the hotspots.
Yeah,
Francis (22:36):
that's exactly what I meant.
Um, we were talking about, andwe didn't get a chance he had to
run, we didn't get a chance totalk about some of the
interesting things that aretalked about in this book.
It's not just a collection ofrecipes.
although there are some cocktailrecipes and there are some, food
recipes in here.
As well.
He talks about the history ofthe cocktail in New Orleans.
And New Orleans was a veryimportant city for the cocktail.
(22:59):
It's the home of Antoine Peauwho invented Pecho Bear.
You
Speaker 6 (23:01):
know, you, you're selling it short a little
though.
It's still a very important cityfor the cocktail.
Francis (23:05):
I'm sorry.
It was important for the birthof the cocktail.
Mm-hmm.
And actually there's, there's astory there.
Custom, some competing storiesabout where the word cocktail
comes from.
Um, but.
Pecho was a pharmacist who wassort of like a pharmacist
bartender.
There was a fine line back then.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and, uh, mix salad.
He used to serve what eventuallygrew into the, uh, the ACH
cocktail and his littlepharmacy, in egg cups.
(23:28):
And, and he spoke French, ofcourse, in, in the, uh, there
were always French and Anglospeakers in, in New Orleans.
And he served his cocktail in alittle egg cup, which is in
French as a ti.
And, uh, what.
they posit that ETT becamecocktail, uh, which there are
references to cocktail from NewOrleans in a while that
eventually became cocktail.
And so the original cocktailwould have been.
(23:51):
The, the precursor to a akmm-hmm.
In New Orleans, invented byAntoine PE showed.
Now there's a competing, thereare several competing stories,
New York, but that sounds prettyreasonable.
Mm-hmm.
And I wouldn't raise any ofthose competing stories if
you're in New Orleans.
You know what I mean?
Just, just talk about that one.
Yeah.
That's, that's the one you wantto go with if you're there.
Um, and so Antoine Pei showedwas pretty important, but, but
(24:12):
then the other, the one I loveis, is the Ramos Fizz.
Mm-hmm.
And this is a drink that youwon't find, I don't know any
place in New Jersey for you tofind it.
Well, just one.
Except for our own, except forCatherine Lombardi, because,
well, you and I love it so much.
but that's a, that's a classicdrink.
it was, hold on a second.
It was brought by the Ramosbrothers.
Which Ram?
The Henry Ramos survivedProhibition.
That's a cocktail that straddlesprohibition.
(24:34):
Mm-hmm.
It existed before prohibitionand was really popular
supposedly.
In the 1915 carnival season, thebar that was owned by the Ramos
brothers had to employ 35bartenders all working at once,
just mixing up Ramos Fizzes.
Yet the place still had linesaround the block.
Right?
That's a lot of fizzes.
Isn't that crazy?
It's a lot of fizzing.
And, and then after prohibition,uh, one of the Ramos brothers,
(24:57):
Henry Ramos survived.
And he went on to the RooseveltHotel rather than open, uh, his
old bar was called the ImperialCabinet.
So rather than reopen theImperial cabinet, he went to the
Roosevelt Hotel Hotel, which atthat point then became the home
of both the Ramos Fizz and theCak.
And you could have it made by.
Henry Ramos,
Speaker 6 (25:15):
but you need to tell people why the Ramos fizz was
such a, a labor intensivecocktail.
Francis (25:19):
Ramos Fiz uses egg white as many of the drinks at
the time did, as our ours does.
Mm-hmm.
It used milk, which was, uh, youknow, unusual and it not as
unusual then as it is now.
Uh, it's not a heavy drinkthough.
It's not like a cream ofwhatever.
It's just uses a little bit ofmilk in there.
Um, it uses, uh, gin, uh, it hassome flavoring stuff in it as
well, and it has just a coupleof drops of orange flour water,
(25:41):
which.
You know, one drop of that stuffis, is perfect, two drops, and
it smells like the inside ofyour grandmother's purse.
Um, and then you shake it and ithas to be shaken and shaken.
And at the Roosevelt Hotel, theyhad this shtick where they would
line up like 10 bartenders andthey would shake the Ramos.
The one bartender would shake itfor a while.
In
Speaker 12 (25:57):
order to get it to fizz, you really need to shake
this drink.
And you shake it and shake itand shake it, and shake and
shake it.
Francis (26:02):
And then, and then that bartender would pass it to the
next bartender who would shakeit.
It would pass to the nextbartender who would shake it.
And then it gets served not onice, but in a Collins glass.
Mm-hmm.
Like a Tumblr.
You fill it up three quarters ofthe way and it's got this egg
white, frothy thing to it, andthen you add soda to it and
that's brings it out.
And it's just the most light andethereal, delicate drink.
I had it only recently otherthan our, at our place.
(26:22):
I went to, again, our favoritecocktail place in New York.
It wasn't on the menu, but Iasked for it and because it's
the best cocktail place world.
And of course they had all theingredients and knew exactly how
to make it.
They said, oh yeah, hold on.
And I was out with, uh, me, myfriend Corey, and my friend
Dale, Dale DeGraff, who's themost famous part in the world.
My friend Fred, uh, and all inthe restaurant business and, uh,
the bartender.
(26:42):
You were at
Speaker 6 (26:43):
Pega Club.
You didn't mention the, the nameof the place.
Oh, sorry.
I
Francis (26:45):
was at the Pega Club.
Yeah.
Audrey Saunders place.
Mm-hmm.
Who's coming on the show soon.
And, uh, the bartender picked upthe made the Ramos fizz.
And I said, can I get a Ramosfizz?
And the guy said, sure.
Like it was nothing.
Right.
This is probably the only bar inNew York you can do that.
And the guy makes the drink the.
And in and shakes it in thecoolest move ever.
He started shaking it and thenhe handed it to Dale DeGraff,
(27:05):
who started shaking it, whohanded it to me, who shook it
and handed it to Fred, who shookit and handed it to Corey who
shook it and handed it back tothe bartender, and he made the
ramo fiz.
And that was just really cool.
I'm sorry.
That was just really, reallycool.
One of the
Speaker 6 (27:17):
things I like about the, the, the Pegu guys is they
are historians, the, thebartenders and, and now we've
begun using the expression barchef or ologist at Pegu Club.
Mm-hmm.
They're historians, they, theydon't just know about the
drinks.
It's like a great sommelierknows the story about the wine
he serving you.
These guys know the story of thecocktail they're serving you.
And a lot of times the story hasto do with exactly how the drink
(27:40):
is made.
Like the Ramos Fizz, forinstance, the story behind the
Ramos fizz that it got passedfrom bartender to bartender to
bartender.
Well, what does that tell youabout how it's made?
What it means is you need toshake this drink so much more
than any other cocktail you'veever made in order to make it
right.
So if you know the story, youknow how to make it right.
Francis (27:56):
And
Speaker 6 (27:56):
you
Francis (27:56):
know what was really cool about that?
Is I asked for Ramos Fizz and hejust knew it and then he just
assumed we knew the story.
So he just handed up thecocktail shaker and we did.
I was in like a James Bondmovie.
I'm a fat 40-year-old guy.
You're just not that cool.
No.
James Bond, I get very, you areno James Bond.
I get fewer.
You're like
Speaker 6 (28:11):
double
Francis (28:12):
Oh.
Oh.
I get fewer and fewer moments ofcool as time goes on.
I gotta embrace the one I, whenI get'em, I tell about'em on the
radio.
I live'em again.
Anyway, we'll be back in just amoment.
You're listening to theRestaurant guys, Hello everybody
(28:47):
and welcome back.
You're listening to theRestaurant Guys, mark and
Francis of Stage Left andCaptain Lombardi.
Restaurants in New Brunswick,New Jersey.
We're talking about New Orleanstoday.
Uh, our guest, hi Chicago at thesame time and Chicago Jimmy Anos
was, is a owner of uh, heaven onseven.
A New Orleans inspiredrestaurant chain in Chicago, and
his book is called Big EasyCocktails, and he has some great
(29:07):
stuff in the beginning of thebook.
It's a trend that I'm seeingmore and more is when you get
cocktail books or when you getcookbooks, they're not just
collections of recipes anymore.
Mm-hmm.
They contextualize what's insidethe book.
They contextualize and theirhistorical books more and more,
and it's not just that they maynot
Speaker 6 (29:20):
necessarily be historical books.
That may be books that give youthe perspective of the person
who's writing them and
Francis (29:26):
they're good to read and they have to be well read
and fun to read, or they don't,you know.
Cookbooks are, are a goodmarket.
You can make good living.
Let's write a cookbook market.
I think it's a great idea.
Um, anyway, the, one of thestories they tell inside the
book is, is a story that I knewthat I had, had heard related to
me, uh, over the bar from atsome point.
It's one of those things thatjust sticks in back of your
head.
I don't know where I got it,but, you know, it was Huey Long
(29:47):
who was the, the governor ofLouisiana.
Mm-hmm.
Who eventually became UnitedStates Senator, who eventually
was shot.
In the halls of the SenateChamber of like the, the State
House in Louisiana or something.
He was murdered.
I got that a little bit wrong,but he was dead.
That's, he was shot.
He's dead.
That's when I got that.
Right.
But when he went from beinggovernor of Louisiana, you know
what, I
Speaker 6 (30:07):
just, right now I just wish I were smart enough to
correct.
You
Francis (30:11):
went so does the rest of the listening audience.
Um, but when he went fromLouisiana to Washington, and
this is how, you know, thingsspread before the age of the
internet, he.
Packed along a lot of his, hisfavorite belongings, one of them
being a bartender.
And, and he took a bartenderfrom New Orleans to Washington
and, and Ramos Fizz became therage, and Cex became the rage.
(30:33):
DC and New Orleans Stylescocktails became the rage in
Washington DC and then they wentback and spread out through the
country that way.
And I, I think that'sfascinating.
Don't you?
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Well, it's, you know, it's a little history, you know,
that that's, these thingsdidn't, they didn't just happen
the way things happen now.
You know, you didn't telephone,you didn't have telephones, you
didn't, you know, it had to goWord of mouth and word of word
of barman.
Francis (30:54):
Exactly.
I'll give you one more piece ofinformation.
Uh, it's, there's a lot, there'san old adage that says that
during prohibition, the, the twocities that ignored prohibition
most were New York City and NewOrleans.
And I think that that was reallyled to the survival of a lot of
these cocktails.
That's true.
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed thehour listening to the
restaurant.
Guys.
I'm Francis Shot.
And I'm Mark
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Pascal.
Francis (31:13):
We are the restaurant guys, central Jersey 1415.
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